The native Christians were so earnest and loyal to the church that, in 1583, they sent an embassy of four young noblemen to Rome to pay their respects to the pope and to declare themselves his spiritual vassals. They were suspected by some of their countrymen of desiring to become his vassals in another sense as well. This embassy was received with the greatest honors by the pope, as well as by the European princes, and was sent away heavily laden with presents. After an absence of eight years it returned to Nagasaki, accompanied by seventeen more Jesuit fathers. Up to this time all of the priests laboring in Japan were members of this order. From time to time other embassies were despatched from Japan to Rome, one of which was sent many years after the persecutions had begun. Catholic histories put the number of native Christians at this time at about 600,000, but native authorities put it much higher. {150} _Persecutions_ Such was the happy state of Christianity in this empire as the sixteenth century was drawing to a close. But, thick and fast, clouds were gathering over the horizon, and suddenly and furiously the storm broke. The loss of their protector, Nobunaga, was the beginning of the misfortunes of the Christians. This great man was slain by an assassin, Akechi by name, who attempted to take the reins of government into his own hands. Hideyoshi, one of the greatest men Japan ever produced, now came upon the stage. He was the loyal general of the mikado, and, by the help of the Christian general Takayama, he overthrew the usurper Akechi, and became the molder of the destinies of the empire. He was the unifier of Japan. Hideyoshi was at first tolerant of Christianity; but his suspicions were by and by aroused, and he became a cruel and relentless persecutor. According to Dr. Griffis, his umbrage arose partly because a Portuguese captain would not please him by risking his ship in coming out of deep water and nearer land, and partly because some Christian maidens of Arima scorned his degrading proposals. The quarrels of the Christians themselves also helped to bring on the persecutions. {151} Franciscan and Dominican missionaries from Spain had recently landed in Japan, and they were continually at strife with the Portuguese Jesuits. The jealousy and indiscretion of these unfriendly religious orders, and the slanders circulated by the Buddhists, stirred up the popular fury, and a persecution of fire and blood broke out. Hideyoshi issued an edict commanding the Jesuits to leave the country in twenty days; but this edict was winked at, and the persecutions were carried on only locally and spasmodically. The converts increased faster during these persecutions than before, about 10,000 being added each year.